Brady

History

When the area was settled in the 1870s, the community was named Brady City after Brady Creek, which runs through town. The name was shortened to Brady when the town was incorporated in 1906. In 1787–1788, Spanish explorer José Mares crossed the creek near the site of present Brady. Henry and Nancy Fulcher, the first settlers on Brady Creek, donated land for the townsite in the mid-1870s. Allison Ogden and his father-in-law, Ben Henton, built a store in 1875. A post office opened in 1876. After residents of McCulloch County chose Brady as county seat on May 15, 1876, the town grew fairly quickly. Brady had approximately 50 residents in 1877, and a stone courthouse was completed in 1878. Thomas Maples began weekly publication of The Brady Sentinel in 1880; by 1884, Brady had two churches, a district school, three stores, two hotels, and 300 residents. Stock raising was the primary occupation in the Brady area before 1900. In the 1870s and 1880s, local ranchers drove their cattle to markets in Kansas. Most other trade was with Brownwood and Lampasas. The number of farms and fences increased with the influx of immigrants in the late 1880s and 1890s. Poultry, sheep, goats, cotton, and pecans joined cattle as important sources of income for area residents. When the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway arrived in 1903, Brady became a principal shipping point for Central Texas. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe came to Brady in 1912. By 1914, the town had grown to include four churches, two schools, two banks, several processing plants, manufacturing and supply outlets, and 2,669 residents. In 1926, Brady residents celebrated the building of 42-acre Richards Park by holding a two-day barbecue on the Fourth of July weekend; it was such a success that the celebration was labeled…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Brady has a total area of , of which are land and (20.16%) are covered by water. * U.S. Highway 87 * U.S. Highway 190 * U.S. Highway 283 * U.S. Highway 377 * State Highway 71 The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, Brady has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  276
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  265
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  261
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  235
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  218
• White-winged Dove

  Zenaida asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  197
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

  Tyrannus forficatus (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  190
• Black Vulture

  Coragyps atratus (Bechstein, 1793) · Aves
  187